Challenge Day 2 Reset & Refresh: Breath By Breath

Welcome to Day 2 of Insight Timer's Reset & Refresh Challenge. Today's session with Sarah focuses on awakening your sense of compassion, breath by breath. You're encouraged to consider what stands in the way of your love, your care, and your compassion. Why are you reticent about opening your heart? Connecting to our breath is the most simple and effective way to be in our body, which in turn will help you to find your strength in life.

Transcript

Welcome to Day 2 of Insight Timer's Reset and Refresh Challenge.

Your call to break free from the ordinary,

Let go of what's been holding you back,

And step into your life with a fresh perspective.

Let's jump in to today's session.

What stands in the way of our love,

Our care,

Our compassion?

What stops us opening our hearts?

What I've found over years and years of studying my own heart is that it's a form of dysregulation that stands in our way.

It's fear of our feelings,

Our thoughts.

There's a general sense that you are incapable,

We are incapable,

To hold and confront our lives.

This dysregulation comes from the body,

Breath,

And the heart not being met with our consciousness.

So,

In a way,

We are not properly resourced.

When we aren't aligned and seated in our body,

Our heartbeat,

Our beautiful breath,

We lack the resources we need in order to be with our lives.

And until we can be with our lives in a loving way,

We can't access our love,

Our care,

Our compassion very easily.

Fear comes in,

Overwhelming experiences come in,

And we don't know how to help the feelings fulfill themselves and pass through our bodies by way of the breath and our heartbeat.

So,

We close down,

We ignore,

And we turn away from many aspects of our life.

Because we haven't found our own drum inside ourselves,

We are somehow automatically dysregulated.

So,

If you want to access your heart,

You must be in your body.

And if you want to be in your body,

You have to be with your breath.

So,

At every threshold or decision point,

With every desire for intimacy or clarity,

With every hard or fearful experience,

Turn toward yourself and check in with these three centers before acting in any way.

Check in with your breath,

Your body,

And your heart.

Are you with them?

Are you with them?

I remember once when I was in the depths of confusion,

Fear,

Lostness,

Very big feelings.

A friend asked me something that changed everything for me.

They asked me,

Can you be okay right now on this breath?

And the next one?

And the next one?

And the answer was,

Of course I could be okay.

Even in the worst feelings of my life,

I could still be okay,

Breath by breath.

It's easy to get lost in overwhelm when we feel we don't know the way,

Or the way is hiding from us,

Or the way is frightening to face.

But we can reduce our distress by focusing on our okayness with each breath.

It's like that famous question,

How do you eat an elephant?

Bite by bite.

How do you find your heart,

Your way,

Your resilience,

Your care,

Your courage,

Your strength in life?

Breath by breath,

Heartbeat by heartbeat.

A being living inside the body,

Connected to its loving intention.

We are always okay,

Breath by breath.

So I invite you to concentrate on this beautiful breath,

At the tip of your nostrils.

Bring your eyes to a close and just feel how cold the air is coming in at the tip of your nostril,

And how warm it is when it leaves.

As closely as you can on the breath at the tip of your nose.

Inhaling and exhaling,

Inhaling and exhaling.

As we focus on the breath,

The body automatically begins to soften and open,

Breath by breath.

Our breath interlocks with our drum.

They're inseparable and part of one another.

The rhythm and hum we are looking for.

Bringing our breath in through our nose,

Into our bodies,

Down into the heart.

Imagine it as a wave moving through your body,

Waking up these sacred and holy spots in you.

Inhale nostrils,

Body,

Heart.

Inhaling through the nostrils,

Into the body,

Down and in and out through the heart.

What we wallow in will make us sick.

But what we embrace,

Breath by breath,

Heartbeat by heartbeat,

Will make us whole.

So no matter what you encounter throughout your day,

Moment by moment,

You can train yourself to discover how to enfold these feelings,

These very human things.

Into your breath,

Into your body,

Into your heart.

Bringing in fear through your nostrils,

Letting it pass through the body and out through the heart.

Bringing in worry through the nostrils,

Into the body,

Out through the heart.

Bringing sadness and grief,

Worry and despair,

In through the nostrils,

To the body and out through the heart.

Don't be afraid to drink in the medicine of your being.

If you weren't afraid of your feelings,

Your experiences,

Your heartbreak,

How would it change?

How would things be different?

I have a theory that we each want to know how to actually let our lives all the way in.

Meaning,

Feel our lives.

We want to be able to stand,

Sure-footed,

Inside it all,

Smiling.

Inside your breath,

Your body,

Your heart,

Is a natural healing process.

And the more we invite our feelings in through our heart,

And the more we invite our feelings into our breath,

Our body,

And our heart,

The more resilient and capable we begin to feel.

The more we see we do have the strength and the capabilities to open wide to our lives.

And in so doing,

Drink the medicine of our beings.

And in so doing,

Become the medicine in this world.

We are always okay.

Breath by breath,

Heartbeat by heartbeat,

Opening your eyes and coming back into this room,

This life,

This beautiful day.

Wonderful job today.

Thank you for exploring your breath,

Your heartbeat with me.

For finding ways to stay connected and grounded in your body.

It's truly invaluable work.

I look forward to joining you here again tomorrow.

Where we will be showing up with one agenda and one agenda only,

Which is to love.

I'll see you again soon.

Reviews

I loved this meditation- I am ok breath by breath, breathing thru my heart. A reminder that I am okay at this moment. My new mantra

A beautiful reminder that the breath is the gateway to the body which is the gateway to the heart.

A beautiful concept in connecting with breath, body and heart. Very thought-provoking. Thank you, Sarah! 🙏

Understanding the breath is such a simple and helpful way to focus on difficult emotions. Thank you, wonderful meditation.

Great as always. Love starting my day with your calming wisdom.

Calming the Caios and the silencing the noise to hear my heart. Thank you.

I love Sarah. Her voice is a comforting friend in the dark. Thank you as always. Just what I needed. X

Thank you Sarah. Sending love and blessings. Thank you God for this moment I am grateful.

🫶🏼it was so lovely to be enchanted by your voice. Thank you. Simplicity helps.💖

Sarah’s voice and words are pure medicine for the soul. They weave magic into your heart and allow you space to feel deeply.

I haven't been fully in my body since I was a child. Fifty years later I'm learning to come back to it thanks in large part to these teachings. Forever grateful.

Love your imagery and message… resonates with me perfectly.

Her meditations are one of the most beautiful poems I have ever entcointered

I love the way you share the simple task to breath, and to feel. Thank you so much 🩵🌀🫂

Best yet. How lovely to listen to your words and voice while feeling my breath and heart meld. 🙏💕

Beautiful 😍 thank you 🙏 ❤️
Much needed today 🙏🌺💞

So gratefull for this meditation! Straight to the essence of the moment for me. Somethimes it all comes together. Namaste!

Great grounding meditation for counteracting any negative thoughts, feelings, or emotions. Connecting with my breath is always my go to method for healing any symptoms of pain that may arise at the moment I start feeling them. It may not always alleviate the pain symptoms. However, it does help me in diverting my attention away from the signals that I recognize which may be causing pain. Once I recognize the signals, I focus on the breath once again, and how my body responds to the sensation changes. Using this technique of breathing to ground myself in the present moment, acknowledging or recognizing the feeling, emotion, or physical sensation, then returning to the breath has proven to be beneficial for alleviating the pain symptoms my body experiences on a daily basis. Thank you for confirmation that what I have been doing for decades now, aligns not only physically and emotionally, but spiritually as well.😌

Breath, body and heart beat in truly the most beautiful way to connect with myself ❤️ Thank you Sarah for guiding me to this journey 🙏

Sarah Blondin is my teachor I love your deep and powerful reflections of the sacred what a beautiful and sacred mirror 🙏🏿 all the gratitude.